


Paladin's Sacrifice

by kristsune



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Canonical Character Death, Gen, angst angst angst, expressive ears, grizzop POV, so much pain, spoilers for rome sidequest, what it says on the tin, yes im adding that tag dont @ me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:41:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22931935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kristsune/pseuds/kristsune
Summary: Grizzop just wanted to be understood. He later realizes that he may just have accomplished that.
Relationships: Grizzop drik Acht Amsterdam & Sasha Racket
Comments: 16
Kudos: 57





	Paladin's Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> So, its only been two weeks since I listened to the Rome Sidequest, and I am still 100% not over it. Does this make sense? Is it coherent? Probably not, but I needed to get these feels out, so, please, enjoy the angst.  
> Shout out to both [historiagloria](https://historia-gloria.tumblr.com/) and [El](https://howshouldiknowboutlife.tumblr.com/) for cheering me on while screaming angst at them XD

This, Grizzop thought, was probably one of _the_ most difficult conversations he had ever been a part of. 

He felt his ears pull back defensively when Azu disagreed with him about what happened to a person after they died. She had every right to feel differently, but the way she said it made him feel like _he_ didn’t have that same right. He unfortunately realized halfway through his explanation of why the body was just a thing after the important part - the part that made you a person - was gone, that the two halflings in the room, the ones who just lost someone important to them, someone they had likely known for a long time, was dead, and that he might sound cold and uncaring. 

His left ear twitched at the realization, this was not going the way he had expected. He had just wanted to share his experiences, to try and comfort, to try and tell the others that it didn’t really matter what happened to Aziza’s body, because she was now in a better place. That everyone’s own customs were valid, but they really didn’t need to worry. But it was all coming out wrong. 

And then Azu brought race into it. He knew she had no idea, he _knew_ she didn’t really mean anything by it, but it still hurt. It couldn’t _be_ a goblin thing, because he hadn’t been raised by goblins. He lost the rest of his clutch, he lost his _family_ , and was adopted by the church of Artemis. Everything he learned, he learned at the temple. Even his adoptive parent was human. And where he wouldn’t change his life if he had the choice (which was a stupid line of thought to go down in the first place) he knew it made him different, made him unusual… well, even more unusual than he already was. 

And of course none of those feelings even factored in the entire life expectancy conversation. It was always a sensitive subject for Grizzop, and he immediately went on the defensive, ears pulling back again. No one understood why, because no one ever bothered to learn anything about goblins in the first place. He was restricted to such a short time to do good, to make things _better_ ; assuming he didn’t get cut down before that. But even Azu’s sixty years sounded like such a wealth of time, it was difficult not to snap back. And when Grizzop noticed Sasha’s expression when she mentioned her current... complications, his ears drooped. He just wanted people to understand, he just wanted his _friends_ to understand. He just wanted to get as much done in the little amount of time he had. 

Hopefully there would still be time to do so. 

\-------

Grizzop turned and reached out with both his hand and his mind: his hand, outstretched towards Sasha, and his mind to Artemis, praying for the Paladin's Sacrifice, to protect the pack, to keep him strong enough to save them. Or at least strong enough to save her. 

Sasha. Who saw him for his skills before his race. Who accepted him easily, and had his back as soon as they met. Who, at least on some level, understood his practicality, and respected it. Who hadn’t shied away from playing games like ISpy or cards with him, even if he was mostly terrible at them. Who had even shared what constituted as one of her rare smiles with him, when most of the general public pretended that he didn’t even exist. 

Sasha. Who _trusted_ him, with her life. He would do all he could to make sure she got out of this alive.

And when he saw a flash of light, and felt the sharp, piercing pain through his shoulder, blood gushing down his arm, taking on the damage that was meant for her, he knew he had been successful. Artemis was watching over them. She couldn’t fix everything, but she would do what she could, and that was all he had ever asked of her. 

Her… intervention, was immediately demonstrated again, when the Captain turned and pointed to him, and bright green tinged lightning crackled around him, but was glanced aside without so much as touching his skin. Artemis was not allowing him to be harmed by this obviously tainted magic. Grizzop couldn’t help the defiant forward tilt of his ears as he stuck out his tongue and snarky smile.

Grizzop’s smile faded when the Captain commanded his troops to kill him, as if _he_ was the terrible monster. As if _he_ were the one that was part of a demonstrably evil cult performing an all out attack. Grizzop was _beyond_ offended. He was a paladin for Artemis, he was a force of good in this world, and he was going to prove it.

Grizzop was now absolutely sure, as he pulled his bow taut, and aimed at the already pin cushioned, and retreating Captain, that this _was_ the right choice. He needed to finish the hunt, no matter how open it left him to attack from the enclosing troops. He hoped it would be enough to break the rest of the guard, that it would cause enough of a distraction so at least it gave Sasha, if not himself, a chance for escape. He prayed again to Artemis, for his aim to be true. He released his arrows, watching the Captain _finally_ go down with a particularly pleasing spray of blood, feeling triumphant. No matter what else happened to him, he was at least able to accomplish that.

He was able to get one more arrow off, buried to the fletching into one of the soldiers threatening him and Sasha. Before he was able to nock his next arrow, the five soldiers threatening him saw their opportunity, and attacked as one. The last image he saw, before everything went black was Vesseek's sharp smile. He hoped they would be okay, that the others - Hamid, and Azu - would take care of them. That they would be able to take care of _each other_. He would meet them all again - including Sasha - soon enough, in the Elysian fields. But, hopefully not too soon. 

He may not have had much time in this world, but when all of what he had accomplished passed before his eyes, the friends he made, the enemies vanquished, happiness shared, and slights paid back in full. He knew it had been time well spent.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to stop by and say hi (or yell at me) over on tumblr!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Paladin's Sacrifice [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23593444) by [KD reads (KDHeart)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDHeart/pseuds/KD%20reads)




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